According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS is about to commission a third “NCIS” spin-off, this time set to take place in Hawaii. While in parallel, Mark Harmon could soon bid farewell to the mother series.
After Washington, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, NCIS may soon be investigating Hawaii. According to Hollywood Reporter, CBS is reportedly currently developing NCIS: Hawaii, a third spin-off of the hit franchise, which could soon be ordered directly into series. Without going through the pilot box, or through an introductory episode broadcast in one of the other three series, as revealed for its part Deadline.
Chris Silber, who heads NCIS: New Orleans, is already attached as showrunner, while Jan Nash (also involved on the series with Scott Bakula) and Matt Bosack (SEAL Team) will serve as executive producers. . The choice of Hawaii as the setting for this new version is not trivial since, in addition to being less impacted by the coronavirus epidemic, the American state is already hosting the Magnum filming, within the infrastructures used by CBS since Hawaii Five-0, which ended last year after 10 seasons.
This is not the first time that an additional spin-off has been under consideration from CBS because, in 2013, before the launch of NCIS: New Orleans, the channel had tried to launch NCIS: Red, in through two episodes aired within the fourth season of NCIS: Los Angeles. Kim Raver (Grey’s Anatomy) and John Corbett (Sex & the City) camped there as agents of a roving NCIS team, who scoured the United States to solve crimes. But the project did not convince and fell by the wayside.
If this new Hawaii-set spin-off sees the light of day next season – and if the other three series are renewed by CBS – NCIS would become one of the only franchises in television history, along with Law & Order, to have had 4 sets on the air at the same time. An accomplishment that would make it possible to increase even more the influence of the mother series, which continues, after 18 seasons, to be the most watched fiction program in the United States with, on average, 15 million viewers each week . And very successful international sales for the studio since the series is broadcast in more than 200 territories. Los Angeles and New Orleans, meanwhile, are in their 12th and 7th seasons, respectively.
Also according to the Hollywood Reporter, the mother series, despite its undisputed audience success, could soon come to an end. Mark Harmon, who has played Gibbs since 2003 and whose contract ends at the end of the current 18th season, has indeed expressed his wish to move on. But the American site specifies that discussions are underway with the chain, which would like to persuade him to return for a handful of episodes in the event of season 19. While CSI should make their return soon in the form of a new series revival event titled CSI: Vegas, which would see the return of William Petersen and Jorja Fox, NCIS could therefore soon face a major change. Are her great years behind her? What if CBS decided not to give up its goose that laid the golden eggs and renew the mother series beyond a possible Season 19, what could NCIS look like without Mark Harmon? Perhaps the future will tell us.